Go-to-Market Benchmarks Every Insurance Leader Must Know with Callan Harrington

Callan [0:00:00]: Said relationships are gonna be the currency of the future.

Callan [0:00:02]: They're the currency of the now, and they've been the currency of the past fifteen twenty years, probably forever within the insurance space.

Callan [0:00:08]: People that are selling to agents and brokers.

Callan [0:00:11]: Not lot's changed in that area, cold calling, events, things like that, relationships, podcasts, those types of things are still just as effective as ever been.

Callan [0:00:22]: Welcome to The Insurance Growth Lab.

Callan [0:00:26]: Where we go deep on the growth campaigns and strategies driving real results in the insurance industry.

Callan [0:00:32]: Callan Harrington founder Flashgrowth and in each episode, I sit down with marketing and growth leaders from carriers in shirt tech and top brokers to break down one specific initiative.

Callan [0:00:44]: Whether it's how they marketed a product, scale a channel or solve a specific growth challenge.

Callan [0:00:49]: It's no fluff, just tactical insights you can apply in your own company.

Callan [0:00:54]: Welcome back everyone to another episode of The Insurance Growth Lab.

Callan [0:01:03]: I'm your host Count Harrington, and for today, it's just gonna be me.

Callan [0:01:07]: Now I recently had the chance to speak at the Insured tech New York Education Day event.

Callan [0:01:14]: This is an event that they put on every year as part of their insured tech match program.

Callan [0:01:18]: And I think it's an absolute great group of founders.

Callan [0:01:22]: And if you're not familiar with Insured Tech New York, I would highly recommend checking them out.

Callan [0:01:27]: They've got all sorts of great programs that they put on for techs.

Callan [0:01:31]: Now to add a little context, the majority of the founders in the room founded insure tech companies that have built products that either port, insurance carriers or insurance brokers.

Callan [0:01:42]: Now the year before, I was asked to give a presentation on building a scalable sales team.

Callan [0:01:49]: I broke this down by its stage of business, so we broke it down from zero to one million one to ten million and ten plus million.

Callan [0:01:57]: When I spoke to the insure tech New York team this year, they asked if I can come and essentially deliver that exact presentation.

Callan [0:02:06]: And honestly, there is nothing easier than delivering the exact same presentation that you've already delivered.

Callan [0:02:14]: But since I seem to be completely addicted to taking the most painful route possible in my life, I said, nas probably not gonna work.

Callan [0:02:22]: Because although many things still ring very true from a sales and go to market perspective with Ai, many things are changing rapidly.

Callan [0:02:34]: For one, If you're thinking about it as sales or marketing or customer success, you're likely gonna get left behind, you have to look at this from a complete go to market perspective because all of it is blending together right now.

Callan [0:02:51]: So for today, I'm gonna walk you through three things, and this is exactly the presentation that I gave.

Callan [0:02:57]: First, we'll start with the pieces from the twenty twenty four presentation that I still believe hold true today.

Callan [0:03:05]: And the reality is that's a lot of it.

Callan [0:03:07]: Next, we're gonna dive into what's already changed in twenty twenty five, and we'll finish off with some of my future go to market predictions just in general.

Callan [0:03:17]: And I would say for these think the next two to five years.

Callan [0:03:20]: Alright.

Callan [0:03:22]: So let's dive in.

Callan [0:03:24]: First, I wanna talk about what's still largely the same and briefly talk about some of those benchmarks and stage gates from a sales and revenue perspective.

Callan [0:03:34]: For context, This is largely focused on b to b, and I'm gonna tailor my answers to the insurance space as much as possible.

Callan [0:03:43]: These benchmarks came from both my own experience and just doing a ton of research both now and over the years from experts within the startup community.

Callan [0:03:54]: Starting at the zero to one million stage.

Callan [0:03:57]: From a sales perspective, this is where the founder proves it's possible.

Callan [0:04:02]: The biggest things here are twofold.

Callan [0:04:05]: One, proving product market fit, and two, adding those first couple of sales reps.

Callan [0:04:11]: And I promise you.

Callan [0:04:13]: I've gotten this question a million times is when do I hire my first sales reps.

Callan [0:04:19]: And I think this comes down to three things.

Callan [0:04:22]: First, as the founder, you've created and documented a repeatable sales motion.

Callan [0:04:29]: This doesn't have to be perfect, and in a perfect world, those first sales reps will be very entrepreneurial.

Callan [0:04:37]: They're gonna look different.

Callan [0:04:38]: Those first two sales reps are gonna look different from reps two through a hundred.

Callan [0:04:42]: Almost guaranteed.

Callan [0:04:43]: In many of those first couple sales reps are likely gonna end up founders in their own right.

Callan [0:04:48]: But they still need something to work off of.

Callan [0:04:52]: The easiest way that you can do this is just record your sales calls.

Callan [0:04:57]: Take the transcripts from those calls, put them into chat Gb and have it build you an initial sales process.

Callan [0:05:05]: Honestly, with Ai, there really is no excuse not to have this in place before they start.

Callan [0:05:13]: So that's the first thing.

Callan [0:05:14]: Second, you have now closed ten to twenty deals as a founder.

Callan [0:05:19]: Smb deals will be on the high end of that, mid market deals will be on the low end.

Callan [0:05:25]: And obviously, enterprise is probably gonna fall somewhere between probably five to ten.

Callan [0:05:29]: And really, the moral of the story is this.

Callan [0:05:32]: Hitting those numbers proves that your product can be sold in a repeatable fashion.

Callan [0:05:38]: This isn't just a founder having a couple of these early adopters that jump on, you've shown that you can do this over and over again.

Callan [0:05:46]: And the last thing is you're achieving a bow of fifteen to thirty percent close rate from a demo that's been held.

Callan [0:05:55]: One of the biggest mistakes that happens is that a founder either doesn't want to do sales or feels they are better off getting a talented salesperson early so they can focus on other things.

Callan [0:06:09]: Honestly, that rationality makes total sense on paper.

Callan [0:06:14]: But the reality is, when those sales reps are brought too early, They flounder.

Callan [0:06:20]: Those early sales reps will not bail you out because you hate selling or you feel your time is better spend elsewhere.

Callan [0:06:27]: Because nobody will know the product better than the founders.

Callan [0:06:32]: Nobody can make faster iterations to the product than the founders.

Callan [0:06:37]: This is your baby.

Callan [0:06:39]: It's doubtful that you ever stop thinking about it, and it's why you need to get it to a place where other people can come in and sell it.

Callan [0:06:48]: And that's where those sales reps can come in and be successful when you hit a couple of those things.

Callan [0:06:53]: Let's move on.

Callan [0:06:54]: Looking at the next stage, we're gonna do this from going from one million to ten million.

Callan [0:06:59]: And to me, this is all about the right people executing the right process supported by the right systems.

Callan [0:07:10]: This is the stage where true vice presidents and Vps come in.

Callan [0:07:15]: And at this stage, The most common question I get is when do I hire my first Vp of sales.

Callan [0:07:22]: It typically, you could hire marketing and marketing Vp pretty early.

Callan [0:07:27]: But from a sales perspective, it's a little bit different.

Callan [0:07:30]: Getting those first sales reps and the right sales leader in place is going to be one of the biggest challenges that you'll face.

Callan [0:07:39]: You're almost certainly going to have a lot of turnover on these two positions.

Callan [0:07:44]: And just like the sales reps, the timing is super important.

Callan [0:07:49]: What it comes to bringing on the first sales leader.

Callan [0:07:53]: Alright.

Callan [0:07:54]: Let's dive in some of those stage gates and benchmarks that indicate when is the right time to bring on your first sales leader.

Callan [0:08:01]: So to start, you have achieved product market fit in one customer segment.

Callan [0:08:08]: So what do I mean by this?

Callan [0:08:10]: Winning by design has a great graph on this.

Callan [0:08:13]: And for simple example sake, let's take the standard benchmark of one million in Arr annual recurring revenue.

Callan [0:08:20]: These numbers are changing all the time, but it's an easy number for example sake.

Callan [0:08:26]: If you have five hundred k in enterprise clients, two hundred and fifty k in mid market clients in two hundred fifty k in Smb clients, you really don't have product market fit in any customer segment.

Callan [0:08:39]: That one million needs to be in one of those customer segments.

Callan [0:08:44]: So the exception to this is probably if you sell enterprise deals and your annual contract value is one million dollars in Arr.

Callan [0:08:52]: Then you likely need to close three to five of those to confidently say you have product market fit in that enterprise segment because here's the reality when it comes to product market fit.

Callan [0:09:03]: A great Vp of sales is a catalyst.

Callan [0:09:07]: They throw fuel on the fire.

Callan [0:09:11]: If there is no product market fit, they will spin their wheels and you will waste an absolute ton of muddy.

Callan [0:09:19]: Alright.

Callan [0:09:20]: I'm not gonna be a dead horse on product market fit.

Callan [0:09:23]: So Along with having to have product market fit, you have to have a repeatable go to market motion.

Callan [0:09:30]: In a good benchmark here to know whether you're not on track to have that is that two sales reps are hitting quota, and they're closing at a clip of about fifteen to thirty percent.

Callan [0:09:41]: Those are the hard numbers, but there also two non market related items that need to be in place.

Callan [0:09:48]: That vp of sales will need resources to build.

Callan [0:09:51]: And they will also need your personal time to get them onboarding in.

Callan [0:09:56]: That latter one is so often overlooked.

Callan [0:10:00]: And I get it.

Callan [0:10:02]: We want this Vp to come in, fix our sales problem.

Callan [0:10:05]: And hit all the goals that are needed to raise our series b.

Callan [0:10:08]: That all might happen.

Callan [0:10:10]: But they need the full download from you first.

Callan [0:10:12]: This includes the market nuances, a download in all the customers, the ins and outs of the product, and how did you get to this current go to market motion.

Callan [0:10:23]: And most importantly, the strategic direction of the company.

Callan [0:10:29]: As the founder we know this is going to change quite a bit.

Callan [0:10:32]: They need to be in the loop on that.

Callan [0:10:34]: They need to be in that conversation.

Callan [0:10:36]: The decision ultimately with you, but they need to be in the loop, and they need to be informed as you go about this because they're out there with those sales reps representing your company.

Callan [0:10:45]: And, look, the reality is the list of the things that probably need to be in place can go on and on, but you get the point.

Callan [0:10:52]: And, look, this isn't a big company.

Callan [0:10:55]: And they will never get the full on pro onboarding program that you would at a big company.

Callan [0:11:02]: But they also can't be left on an island to fend for themselves the day that they're hired.

Callan [0:11:08]: And we've all seen this a million times, and we've probably made this mistake.

Callan [0:11:11]: But the reality is resources time from you along with hitting those benchmarks, you're just gonna put yourself in a lot better position to be successful when you make that higher.

Callan [0:11:22]: Okay.

Callan [0:11:23]: That's one to ten.

Callan [0:11:23]: The last thing I wanna talk about from that twenty twenty four presentation is when is it time to scale?

Callan [0:11:30]: And this is above ten million in revenue, and the biggest questions here are what needs to be in place in order for me to feel comfortable for really scaling that go to market team in motion.

Callan [0:11:45]: These benchmarks I'm about to give came directly from a slide from the pavilion Cro school that was put together by a guy named Josh Allen.

Callan [0:11:54]: He is the Cro of Quick base and is a very, very, very sharp guy.

Callan [0:11:58]: I think it was the best summary that I seen today, and I'll go over them quickly here.

Callan [0:12:03]: One, you need an L to c of three to one or better.

Callan [0:12:08]: If you don't have efficient union economics, you won't be able to scale.

Callan [0:12:13]: Two, and this came from David Scott, who I'm sure many people that are listeners to are familiar with them and oftentimes referred to as the Godfather of Saas, It's what he calls the golden rule of quota attainment.

Callan [0:12:25]: You have at least fifty percent of reps at one hundred percent of quota attainment.

Callan [0:12:31]: And at least seventy percent of reps at seventy percent of quota attainment.

Callan [0:12:37]: I'd love this one because a great rep can really give you false expectations when it comes to scale.

Callan [0:12:45]: You need a team that can do it.

Callan [0:12:48]: Not one to suit two superstars because the reality is, those superstars, they're always gonna outperform everybody.

Callan [0:12:55]: Buy a long shot.

Callan [0:12:57]: And if you think that you can just go out and replicate each one of those superstars, you're gonna be in trouble.

Callan [0:13:03]: I wish I wish you could.

Callan [0:13:06]: But the reality is, those are the Lebron James.

Callan [0:13:09]: Those are the Michael Jordans that are out there and they are just going to take way more of the brunt of the work that needs to be done.

Callan [0:13:16]: It's always gonna be the case.

Callan [0:13:17]: So you need to make sure the teams in a good spot.

Callan [0:13:19]: Alright.

Callan [0:13:20]: So number three, you need gross customer retention of ninety percent, and net customer retention at one hundred percent plus.

Callan [0:13:29]: You just can't scale if you're losing all of your customers.

Callan [0:13:33]: And, look, I know...

Callan [0:13:34]: Those numbers are changing.

Callan [0:13:36]: Benchmarks are changing when it comes to this So the big thing is you gotta make sure that you're able to retain those customers and grow those customers before you just throw all of the fuel on driving new business.

Callan [0:13:50]: Okay.

Callan [0:13:52]: The next three that I'm going to dive into, they're not gonna have a hard number on them, but they are just as critical.

Callan [0:13:59]: And the first is, you have to have a clearly identified ideal customer profile.

Callan [0:14:05]: And buyer personas.

Callan [0:14:08]: You can't guess or take a swag at this any longer.

Callan [0:14:13]: All of your messaging, all of your marketing needs to be talking directly to your best customers.

Callan [0:14:19]: And with that, you need a large un Tam.

Callan [0:14:26]: If this is not there, and you hire a ton of sales reps, they will never be able to pay for themselves.

Callan [0:14:33]: And they will eventually have nothing to do.

Callan [0:14:35]: And if they're truly a good sales rep, They're gonna leave great sales reps aren't gonna stick around and hope that you figure it out.

Callan [0:14:41]: That is just the reality.

Callan [0:14:42]: And the last thing, in this thing, I think is so so so important.

Callan [0:14:47]: You need to have crossed the chasm into the early and late majority.

Callan [0:14:53]: So I'm gonna back this up a little bit and give you a little bit of context just in case you're unfamiliar with the book crossing the Chasm.

Callan [0:14:59]: If you are, I highly recommend you go out and read that book.

Callan [0:15:03]: So this is all based on how new technologies get adopted in the market.

Callan [0:15:10]: You have the innovators, the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and the lag.

Callan [0:15:17]: The hardest thing to do is what's called cross the chasm.

Callan [0:15:22]: And this is going from getting early adopters to buy and use your product to getting the early majority to buy and use your product.

Callan [0:15:32]: The reason it's so difficult is that early adopters in the early majority look very different from each other.

Callan [0:15:42]: And therefore, they don't make good references for each other.

Callan [0:15:46]: The challenges, early adopters make up about thirteen and a half percent of the market, and they are looking for a significant gain in adopting new technology, and they're okay with the bugs and issues and such that comes with adopting technology early.

Callan [0:16:02]: They will blow up all of their processes to get that gain.

Callan [0:16:06]: Their early majority makes up about thirty five percent of the market, and they're just looking for incremental improvements.

Callan [0:16:14]: And the reality is they're not willing to change their current processes in order to get them.

Callan [0:16:20]: Typically, your product needs to be a lot easier to use by the time you get to the early majority.

Callan [0:16:27]: In the insurance world, a great example of this would be Ams integrations.

Callan [0:16:32]: The early adopters will find workarounds in the early majority will wait until those integrations are in place.

Callan [0:16:41]: We've all seen this.

Callan [0:16:42]: Right?

Callan [0:16:42]: If anybody has sold to brokers in the space and you've called them and they say, well, do you integrate with Ams three sixty.

Callan [0:16:49]: Do you integrate with applied?

Callan [0:16:51]: And odds are in the early days, That answers almost surely assured no.

Callan [0:16:55]: And the early majority will say, okay.

Callan [0:16:57]: What's great?

Callan [0:16:58]: We just can't do anything into you to you integrate with our Ams.

Callan [0:17:01]: But the early adopters will say, okay.

Callan [0:17:03]: This is really interesting.

Callan [0:17:04]: We're gonna use Zapier to serve as a band aid we think we can get that into this place and the Ams could potentially pull from this place or we'll put an intern on here in order to get that over there, but this is gonna be a game changer, and it's gonna save us so much time money whatever else that may be.

Callan [0:17:19]: That's the difference.

Callan [0:17:21]: That's the difference between the two.

Callan [0:17:23]: So if those types of things aren't in place, you could be waiting for a while.

Callan [0:17:28]: So those are the big things that need to be in place for scale.

Callan [0:17:33]: And, of course, this will be perfect, but I'd be hesitant to scale if you're really far off on any one of those.

Callan [0:17:42]: Okay.

Callan [0:17:43]: That was the twenty twenty four presentation.

Callan [0:17:45]: And while a lot of things have stayed the same when going from zero to one from one to ten and scaling past ten million.

Callan [0:17:55]: Well, let's talk about twenty twenty five and what's James didn't go to market.

Callan [0:18:00]: The reality is that Ai is changing how we think about go to market more than how we actually go to market.

Callan [0:18:09]: And the truth is, if you're taking a look at this video or listening to this podcast six months from now, that statement could be totally far off.

Callan [0:18:18]: But right now in the insurance space, for those that are going to market, selling to agencies and brokers, and those that are selling to carriers.

Callan [0:18:25]: That's a big thing that's happening.

Callan [0:18:27]: Because right now, automation inefficiency are improving at a rapid rate.

Callan [0:18:32]: But at least in the insurance space, go to market plans and how we obtain customers are still very similar to they have been the past five to ten years.

Callan [0:18:41]: So it's more about the things we need to start thinking about.

Callan [0:18:45]: That it is going in and just ripping everything apart.

Callan [0:18:49]: And let's dive into what I think that these are.

Callan [0:18:52]: These are the things you gotta start thinking about.

Callan [0:18:54]: In the market today, there is information overload.

Callan [0:19:00]: And everybody has an extremely strong opinion.

Callan [0:19:05]: It's one of the only ways honestly that you can really stand out in a c of Ai content.

Callan [0:19:10]: Trust is going to be the name of the game in so many ways in twenty twenty five and in twenty twenty six.

Callan [0:19:18]: So first, you need to trust but verify the information that you're reading.

Callan [0:19:24]: If it sounds interesting and you wanna test it.

Callan [0:19:27]: Great, but be careful going all in and changing everything that you're doing just because you heard some guru talk about this.

Callan [0:19:35]: One of my favorite examples that encapsulates this, I think really well has been the endless headlines of cold calling is dead.

Callan [0:19:45]: And objectively speaking, outbound rates have been going down for years now.

Callan [0:19:51]: And I believe objectively, they're at their lowest rate ever today.

Callan [0:19:56]: So if that's the case, Why is half of Linkedin telling you that you need Ais?

Callan [0:20:01]: The answer is the same as it's always been.

Callan [0:20:05]: Test the new tactics, measure the results of the new and the old tactics, and double out on what works because again, maybe Ais sdr will work, but maybe they won't, but you won't know to your test.

Callan [0:20:19]: Alright.

Callan [0:20:20]: Next, let's talk about two big trends around trust.

Callan [0:20:24]: One, micro events are bigger than ever.

Callan [0:20:29]: You've probably heard this.

Callan [0:20:30]: This is no secret, and we'll talk a little bit more about why that is, but this is a really hot tactic.

Callan [0:20:37]: The cost of producing content is at an all time low.

Callan [0:20:41]: And decision makers are getting inundated with emails, messages, white papers, you name it.

Callan [0:20:50]: I'm sure all of our inbox are flooded right now.

Callan [0:20:53]: And those decision makers want to surround themselves with a highly curated group of people that they trust in the micro events area is a perfect outlet for that.

Callan [0:21:08]: The next big one around trust is the rise in partnership led growth.

Callan [0:21:13]: One of the things that is happening due to an overload of a generated content, and I'd say content just in general is that People are turning to trusted sources, in addition to those trusted sources that they needed to micro events and things like that, but they want people that can curate information and products.

Callan [0:21:31]: It's easier to buy from a partner, who has vetted all the products in a category, than it is to review all the new products coming to market yourself.

Callan [0:21:41]: Because one of the beauties about Ai in particular is that it's easier to build products and Yes.

Callan [0:21:49]: A great engineers is going to use Ai and they're gonna be able to to be an even better engineer.

Callan [0:21:54]: But with vibe coating and things like that, new products are just going to continue getting to the market even faster.

Callan [0:21:59]: So buying from a partner is easy.

Callan [0:22:03]: Because they've state their whole reputation of being able to curate this.

Callan [0:22:07]: And we'll talk about this in a little bit.

Callan [0:22:08]: But the same is gonna come for from thought leaders and things like that, those that can find the signal and into noise and the content that actually matters and resonates are going to stand down and people will turn towards those people for that.

Callan [0:22:22]: Alright.

Callan [0:22:22]: Shifting gears to personnel.

Callan [0:22:25]: Let's first start with revenue leaders.

Callan [0:22:27]: I believe that revenue leaders absolutely need to understand Ai.

Callan [0:22:34]: They don't have to be absolute experts, but they need to have a really, really strong handle on it, and they need to be implementing it into their team.

Callan [0:22:44]: Does that mean you're going to use agents to automate everything.

Callan [0:22:47]: No, but they have to be able to implement in those teams to start finding those different improvements because those that are are just getting a lot more out of their reps.

Callan [0:22:57]: It's super charging those sales reps.

Callan [0:23:00]: So that's kind of a perfect segue to Rev ops.

Callan [0:23:04]: Rev ops is essentially...

Callan [0:23:06]: I think this is exponentially more important in twenty twenty five.

Callan [0:23:12]: These are the actual experts implementing Ai in the tools and the support and the infrastructure to be able to maximize Ai into your operation.

Callan [0:23:23]: I think you're gonna see this role hired earlier and earlier, and I'll tell you this.

Callan [0:23:27]: Rev ops was always one of my first hires.

Callan [0:23:29]: When I came into a team as a revenue leader, I brought in Rev ops really, really, really early.

Callan [0:23:36]: And I think many of you know if you're not a founder, you're not a Ceo and you're a revenue leader that's like listening to this.

Callan [0:23:41]: You probably had to sell the Ceo on this.

Callan [0:23:44]: I think that's gonna be easier.

Callan [0:23:45]: Because people start to understand Rev ops, although it went from sales ops to Rev ops, to go to market engineers, a lot of listening doing a similar thing, and that's just making your process better and more efficient.

Callan [0:23:57]: So those two things I think from a personal perspective are going to be very interesting.

Callan [0:24:03]: The biggest thing in my opinion to be aware of in twenty twenty five.

Callan [0:24:06]: It's just that things are moving faster.

Callan [0:24:10]: A few years ago, I got really into playing squash.

Callan [0:24:14]: Yes, the game of squash, and I know exactly how that sounds when I say it.

Callan [0:24:18]: What I say obsessed, I mean, full blown obsessed with him.

Callan [0:24:22]: I grew up in the south and Toledo, this was not a game that was heavily played where I grew up, but the first time that I played, I was hooked.

Callan [0:24:30]: And I was taking lessons and all the things that you could possibly think.

Callan [0:24:34]: Right?

Callan [0:24:34]: And my coach told me that in order to get to the next level, I needed to learn how to catch my breath while running.

Callan [0:24:42]: Now my first thought was that is easily the most ridiculous statement that I've ever heard, but then I got it.

Callan [0:24:48]: At a certain level, everyone's good.

Callan [0:24:51]: Everyone's in great shape.

Callan [0:24:52]: So you have to find ways to slow down when things are moving quickly.

Callan [0:24:58]: I think this perfectly applies to go to market in twenty twenty five.

Callan [0:25:03]: Things are moving quickly, and you need to be out there testing and catching your breath while running full speed.

Callan [0:25:10]: So that's twenty twenty five.

Callan [0:25:13]: What about beyond twenty twenty five.

Callan [0:25:16]: I'm now gonna dive in some of my predictions there.

Callan [0:25:19]: And I would tell you this.

Callan [0:25:20]: These are my personal predictions.

Callan [0:25:22]: Yes.

Callan [0:25:22]: Yeah.

Callan [0:25:23]: I do a lot of research and I read all the same people that most of the people on here read, but these are my lot of these are just really my personal opinions on this.

Callan [0:25:31]: And more than anything What I think is probably the number one thing I hit on this a little bit, you need to be an expert.

Callan [0:25:38]: You can't be just okay anymore.

Callan [0:25:40]: Trust is only going to go down, and you need to be able to teach someone.

Callan [0:25:47]: Something about their business that they didn't already know or can get from Chat Gb.

Callan [0:25:53]: Because the reality is, chat Gp is gonna be able to tell a lot.

Callan [0:25:58]: And so you need to go in there and you need to sell this much differently.

Callan [0:26:04]: So what do I mean by that?

Callan [0:26:06]: Let's use an example of enterprise sales reps because reality is, enterprise sales reps and consultants in my opinion are gonna be one in the same.

Callan [0:26:14]: And this to me gets back to the challenger sales model.

Callan [0:26:18]: And it in the challenger sales model.

Callan [0:26:21]: If you've never read the book one, obviously, highly recommend it just like crossing the Chasm.

Callan [0:26:25]: But two, That model is about bringing something to the prospect where they say, I never thought about it like that.

Callan [0:26:34]: Instead of, you get us.

Callan [0:26:37]: You get our company, you get what we're going through, that doesn't matter anymore.

Callan [0:26:41]: Ai will get them.

Callan [0:26:42]: Ai is gonna have no problem understanding them and validating what they're hearing and going through.

Callan [0:26:47]: You need to stand out.

Callan [0:26:48]: You need them to sit back and say, man, that's a really good idea.

Callan [0:26:52]: I never thought about it from that angle.

Callan [0:26:54]: And so that gets an expert status, and I think that's gonna be critical.

Callan [0:26:58]: The next one's a fairly obvious one, but go to market head count will likely go down.

Callan [0:27:04]: Automation and efficiency will continue to get better and companies just won't need as many f.

Callan [0:27:09]: And unfortunately, I think marketing will be one of the first to be impacted by this.

Callan [0:27:14]: Now again, there will always be a place for people who are experts at their craft.

Callan [0:27:20]: But if you're an average copywriter, designer, strategist, Rev, professional sales rep, whatever that might be.

Callan [0:27:27]: Companies will try to replace you as fast as they can.

Callan [0:27:30]: I don't necessarily think that that's actually a the best thing, because I think that this is going to disproportionately impact entry level jobs.

Callan [0:27:40]: But a business will always do what's best for the business.

Callan [0:27:44]: This is something I've said over and over and over again, when it comes to your own career is that the business has to survive.

Callan [0:27:52]: And so when you're making judgments and things like this and showing just undying loyalty to a company or whatever that might be, the business can cut you in a second because they have to, And just like that, if you're going to look at a career, great, you should be out there and always promoting.

Callan [0:28:11]: I always told anybody that we ever hired was that I expect you to take the next job.

Callan [0:28:17]: I hope we can do that here.

Callan [0:28:18]: But I expect you to take that job because you have to do its best in your career.

Callan [0:28:22]: And the reality is this is going to be the same point.

Callan [0:28:24]: I think hopefully, this will lead to just greater productivity and potentially increase revenues.

Callan [0:28:29]: I think companies that will take advantage of that.

Callan [0:28:31]: But they're being pushed to reduce costs and and everything else.

Callan [0:28:36]: And, unfortunately, I think what rightly are wrong me, I think go to market will be impacted by that.

Callan [0:28:40]: My last prediction, and somewhat flies in the face of what I've previously said is that relationships will be the currency of the future.

Callan [0:28:50]: What's old is new.

Callan [0:28:52]: Right?

Callan [0:28:53]: If you were ever grow up in sales or marketing, it's people buy from people that they know like and trust.

Callan [0:28:59]: Again, it gets back to that word trust.

Callan [0:29:02]: People will want to work with people they trust, and they will keep that inner circle very tight.

Callan [0:29:09]: The days of pure transaction, I think are gonna be over, especially from an enterprise perspective.

Callan [0:29:14]: So in summary, we went over what's still the same from twenty twenty four.

Callan [0:29:21]: We went over what to think about in twenty twenty five, and I gave some of my opinions on where I think this is going over the next five years.

Callan [0:29:31]: What I wanna make sure to state, this is purely my opinion.

Callan [0:29:37]: And on a number of things, the truth is I actually hope Wrong.

Callan [0:29:42]: And with all that said, in the insurance industry, not a whole lot has changed.

Callan [0:29:47]: Talk with people that are selling to carriers.

Callan [0:29:50]: What are they saying?

Callan [0:29:52]: They're saying the things that are gonna be the most effective are hopping on a plane and getting there in person.

Callan [0:29:57]: They're meeting them at events.

Callan [0:30:00]: That's how they're getting in touch with these executives.

Callan [0:30:02]: I've been doing this in this space for over fifteen years.

Callan [0:30:07]: When I first got into this space, I would cold call, the trade show list and schedule as many appointments as possible.

Callan [0:30:14]: This is the same.

Callan [0:30:15]: It hasn't changed.

Callan [0:30:16]: Because big enterprise like that in the insurance space is so relationship driven.

Callan [0:30:22]: I said relationships are gonna be the currency of the future, They're the currency of the now, and they've been the currency of the past fifteen twenty years, probably forever within the insurance space.

Callan [0:30:32]: People that are selling to agents and brokers, not a lot's changed in that area, cold calling, events, things like that, relationships, podcasts, those types of things are still just as effective as ever been.

Callan [0:30:45]: Are the conversion rates a little bit lower?

Callan [0:30:47]: Course.

Callan [0:30:48]: Conversion rates a little bit lower across the board.

Callan [0:30:51]: But it's still effective.

Callan [0:30:52]: So if there's one thing that I can say, it's again, just to hammer this in, test it out, measure it, see how it's performing against the other tactics that you're doing, And then if it's working, great, double down on it.

Callan [0:31:07]: Stop doing something that's less effective to do something that's more effective.

Callan [0:31:11]: Ai is doing a great job of helping us be more efficient and they're automating a number of routine tasks.

Callan [0:31:20]: But Ai agents haven't taken over yet.

Callan [0:31:23]: And you know what I actually hope that doesn't happen in six months.

Callan [0:31:26]: I hope it doesn't happen in a year two years, but they have not taken over right now.

Callan [0:31:31]: And like anything, there's gonna be positives.

Callan [0:31:34]: There's gonna be negatives, but this has happened before, and we're gonna adapt to it no matter what happens.

Callan [0:31:40]: So I'm gonna try to do this on a little bit more regular basis And one of the things that I will ask you and everybody that's listening to this is if you like this, I wanna get that feedback.

Callan [0:31:53]: As we wrap this up and you're like, hey, I wish you could dive deeper on this.

Callan [0:31:58]: I disagree with you on this.

Callan [0:32:00]: Let's talk about it.

Callan [0:32:01]: You can always find me on Linkedin.

Callan [0:32:03]: I promise you I'll do my best to respond back to messages.

Callan [0:32:07]: Well all know Linkedin messaging can be a huge pain.

Callan [0:32:10]: And so I would do my best to respond to you.

Callan [0:32:13]: And as we wrap this up for those that wanna support the show, subscribe to us on Youtube, give us a review on Apple podcast podcasts or Spotify, because every time that you do, I promise you it is very much appreciated.

Callan [0:32:28]: And as the first solo episode on The Insurance Growth Lab, I wanna thank you for listening.

Callan [0:32:34]: And with everybody, I'll see you next week.